World War II and Korean War veteran's missing hat and pins returned

LONGMONT -- Ray Babcock's voice lowered a bit as he inspected his old and well-worn commemorative World War II and Korean War veteran cap on Friday afternoon.

More importantly, he reviewed the pins and badges that chronicle his long military service. They recall a history he feared he lost forever on March 22 when he misplaced the hat at a Longmont King Soopers store.

Ray Babcock, 88, of Lyons, picks up his World War II veteran hat adorned with pins, Friday, March 29, 2013, at the Longmont Times-Call. The hat was returned to the front desk at the Times-Call on Friday morning by a man who told the clerk that he found the hat at King Soopers.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

He said he stopped by the pharmacy at 2255 North Main St. to take his blood pressure and briefly took off his hat and set it to the side. He walked away, leaving the hat behind, but returned within minutes to retrieve it and found it was gone. For a week he worried that his collection and personal history were gone and, in some cases, could not be replaced. Pins honoring achievement and awards -- notably a Purple Heart -- and time served on some of the most legendary aircraft in U.S. military history books, like the B-17 and B-29.Babcock reported the loss to police and officers publicized that the hat was missing and the Times-Call ran a story about it. On Friday morning, a man stopped by the Times-Call offices and dropped off the hat. He did not leave his name or contact information, but he told a receptionist that he found it in King Soopers and had not stolen it.

Babcock was just grateful to have it back.

"I didn't think it meant much to me until it went away," he said, reviewing the collection of pins and badges, pointing out what he had done to earn them and which among them were hard to impossible to replace, like a small aerial gunner badge that features a downward facing bullet with wings spread behind it.

Ray Babcock, 88, of Lyons, picks up his World War II veteran hat adorned with pins, Friday, March 29, 2013, at the Longmont Times-Call. The hat was returned to the front desk at the Times-Call on Friday morning by a man who told the clerk that he found the hat at King Soopers.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

"Everything is there," he said quietly. "God, I am so glad to see that."He pointed to a small prisoner of war pin that gleamed off of the hat.

"That one," he said, "I don't want to do that again," he said.

Babcock arrived at the Times-Call wearing a new World War II and Korean War veteran's hat to replace the old one. There were no pins on it. He said his wife, Dora, wants him to transfer the pins to the new hat now that they have been returned.

"She says this one is old and dirty," he said.

Babcock was shot down over Vienna during World War II and spent months as a prisoner of war. He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a technical sergeant. A pin denoting his rank was pinned to the center of his old hat.

He wore his new hat until he turned to walk away. Then in one fluid movement, the stiff new hat came off and the old one plopped onto his head and settled comfortably into its rightful spot.

Ray Babcock, 88, of Lyons, picks up his World War II veteran hat adorned with pins, Friday, March 29, 2013, at the Longmont Times-Call. The hat was returned to the front desk at the Times-Call on Friday morning by a man who told the clerk that he found the hat at King Soopers.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

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